SEPTEMBER 4TH, 1909.
THE AUTOCAR B Journal publtshet, in the interests of the mechantcall\? propellet, roat, carriage.
EDITED BY H. WALTER STANE~.
No. 724. VoL. XXIII.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4TH, 1909.
[PRICE 3D.
The Autocar.
(Published Weekly.)
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CONTENTS.
NOTES THE G OVERNMENT R OAD ]MPROVEMEST PROPOSALS USEFUL HINTS ASD TtPS {ILLUSTRATED) • . ·' The Autocar League" .. THE PERSECUTION OF MOTORISTS IS V,,/ALES How A MAGNETO MAKES ELECTRICITY ~lLLUSTRATED) • • B ODY D ES IGN AND CoNSTRUCTIO:-J ( ILLUSTRATED) -ON THE R OAD A SOUTH A FRICAN HILL-CLD1B (ILLUSTRATED) THE LATEST 22 H .P. DADtLER ON T EST S MALL CAR TALK • • A NEw H .F. GARAGE V u LCANISER ( ILLUSTRATED) THE S TATE OF THINGS IN SURREY S u R LA P 1sTE. BY H. c. LAFONE MOTOR U NIO!'J )JOTES • • T HE 5YLVERLYTE ELECTRIC HEADLIGHT (ILLUST RATED) A:-J INDrCTMENT A GAINST P OLICE ANO !\1AGISTRATE S \VHITE STE AM CARS IN l NDIA ( ILLUSTRATIONS) ALUMINI UM CORRESPONDENCE (ILLUSTRATED) R OAD VVARNINGS .. FLASHES
PAGE.
349 3,0 35 1 352-355
356 · · 357-359
359 360-36 ,
362 363 364 · · 365-367
3(7 368 369 370 37,-372
372 373·374 · · 379-3 84
385 . . 366-387
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Notes. The Roads Improvement Bill. Elsewhere ,re set forth the proposals embodied in the De_velopment and Road Improvement Funds Bill. This Bill -has been introdu ed bv the Chancellor of the Exchequer to carry into effect , some of the propo~als in the Finance Bill. The Finance Bill was to authorise the increased car taxes and the new petrol t ax, while the Roads Improvement Bill is to authorise the expenditure of the money thus collected from motorists. The taxes themselves are so unsatisfactory that it was hardly to be expected that the road improvement scheme, which is made the excuse for levyinl]; them, could be less unsatisfactory. In the first place, there is no indication in the Bill that motorists will be represented in any 1rny, though we may hope that this "·ill be the case. Ho,rever, the real defect of _ the Bi II is that it is based on a fallacy, as we pomted out when the proposals for the new taxation were first made.
The idea is that the RoaJ Board will be able to stimulate by means of grant and loans the con truction of new roads and impro1· ments in existin O' roads 1rhich "·ill fa cilitate motor tra ffic . This is all very ,rell, but th re i. no need for any increased taxation to en:1ble improvement. to exi. ting roads to be made, and there is absoluteh· no necessity for new roads. The Chancellor of the· Exchequer appears to labour under the delusion that motorists require racing tracks, and that therefore they should pay for them. As a matter of fact. they req~1~1~:-nothing of the sort . All they ask is that a centraf road authority hall look after road matters so that those road authorities which do not know their business may no longer be allowed to waste public money. To straighten out some of the needless rn rners 1rhich spoil many main roads, to clip a few hedges, and to make lustless roads requires no O'reater expenditme than is at present being made, but° to do these things "·ithout extra cost means that the old rough and tumble methods must be dropp d and up-to-date methods take their place.
It is no1r an established fact that roads ,rhich are practically dustless cost no more than roads made on the old system, and it therefore follows that, as ,re can have dustl e. s roads without any greater expenditure than at present, the only excuse for the increased taxation is that it is required for cutting off a fe,r corners, clipping a few hedges, and making altogether new roads. · The entirely new roads are not wanted at al l , or, at any rate, they can be most easily dispensed 1rith, and it therefore means that from £500,000 to £600,000 of extra. taxation i to be imposed upon motorists becau e the Chancellor of the Exchequer has been wrongly informed and has been Jed to believe that motorists 1rnnt sp cial roads, and that the existing roads cannot be made dustless without a huge increase of expenditure. He also app ars to have been misled into the belief that half a million or so will be of great use for the construction of ne1Y roads. As we haYe already said, the whole scheme, both in regard to the increased taxation and the use that is to be made of the money so obtained, is based upon a fallacy, or rather upon a series of fallaci . , and motorists should oppose it in every way wj~11,in their power.
It is not merely in the interests of motorists themselves that the proposal for ne"- motor roads should be opposed; the public interest will un loubtedly suffer. The new motor roads would only be of use to a small section of motorists, though provided by the ,rhole body of those who own cars. In this way another injustice would be added to those which already harass motorists, while existing roads would probably be neglected. Motoring has become such an integral part of the life of the communitv that its interests cannot be differentiated from those of the public at large.
